How to Use LinkedIn More Effectively for Sales - Ryan Estis

Your LinkedIn profile is not just an online resume.

Your LinkedIn profile is:

• A powerful sales tool.
• An easy, convenient platform to share your best ideas.
• One of the best ways to stay top-of-mind with your customers and prospects.
• A way to help people you care about.

If you logged into LinkedIn once, added your work history, signed out, and wonder why anyone finds LinkedIn valuable, it might be time to reevaluate your social strategy.

Today’s best salespeople are finding new ways to provide value online. They’re sharing interesting articles, creating their own helpful content, and connecting people with solutions. In 2014, if you’re not actively creating an online presence for yourself, you’re invisible.

A couple of basic LinkedIn tips:

• Send personalized, specific invitation requests. The standard message (“I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn”) doesn’t tell new contacts anything about who you are. Remind your new contact how you know each other, and use the message to build your relationship. HubSpot has good examples for customizing LinkedIn messages.
• Use LinkedIn to make referrals. LinkedIn is a great platform for connecting people who you think would benefit from working with each other. If you want people to refer you, it helps to go first.

Keynote speaker Seth Mattison and I recently had a conversation about LinkedIn. Watch our chat to learn how you can start using LinkedIn more effectively. You can find us on LinkedIn, too: Seth Mattison, Ryan Estis.

VIDEO: How to Use LinkedIn More Effectively for Sales – YouTube

Ryan Estis helps progressive companies embrace change, attack opportunity and achieve breakthrough performance. Delivering more than 75 live events annually, Ryan provides high-impact keynote presentations and professional development in partnership with the world’s best brands. Learn more about Ryan.